Tag Archives: panasonic

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Loire Valley, France - Day 8

Today, for our first visit, we did a village north of the Loire River. All, or most, of the popular chateaus seem to be on the south side of the Loire. I wonder why? Anyway, the first village we visited was Talcy. Of course it also has a chateau. I think every little village in this part of France has a chateau. We didn't visit these villages for the sole purpose of their chateaus, we ...

Loire Valley, France - Day 7

Today, we did Chaumont-sur-Loire. Built between 1466 and 1510. That's nearly 50 years for a project. You have to let that go through your brain a little to realize how long that really is. Wouldn't work today of course but when you think about the tools they had then, I think they did pretty well to finish it in just under 50 years.

Loire Valley, France - Day 6

To make up for the disappointment yesterday we headed for two different locations. My shutter therapy is falling short right now!

Our first stop was Cheverny. Built between 1620 and 1634. All the finishing on the towers weren't completed until 1648 however. It's the first chateau to be built as a chateau without any defensive or military purposes in mind. And what a beautiful building it is. I could see me living there too, ...

Battery Usage in Loire Valley, France

I have now used the Olympus E-M1 and E-M5 II extensively for four solid days. One complaint I have is battery consumption. I don't believe it's down to the cameras but to the third party batteries I've purchased. I haven't bought any Olympus original batteries because I had such good experience with the older type batteries used in their older models. I am now possibly regretting my decision to go the same route with these ...

Loire Valley, France - Day 5

Today we took a break from looking at chateaus, even one chateau per day can be too much at times so we headed out for the town of Orleans. With some 120,000 inhabitants, it's one of the bigger towns in the region and offers some great sights to see. It was the capital of medieaval France until the mid-18th Century. During the French Revolution it bacame stauchly Republican. The cathedral dominates the town (Cathedrale-Ste-Croix) and ...

Loire Valley, France - Day 4

Apart from being in the Loire Valley to see the great chateaus, I am also here to test some lenses which I mentioned in one of my last posts. I find it a good time to do this because I'm pretty relaxed when I'm on holiday. So today I decided to mount the Tamron 14-150 f3.5-5.8 on the E-M1 and see how things turn out. The last test I carried out with the Tamron was ...

Loire Valley, France - Day 3

We headed south west in the direction of Chenonceaux which is the village that gives it’s name to Chateau Chenonceau. Aptly named as the “Palace of Women” because over the ages only women have owned and lived in the chateau. Originally built in 1512 by Catherine Briconnet it was Diane de Poitiers who would build the bridge that spans the Cher river. Catherine de Medici then added the galleries over the bridge.

General Notes on Equipment - Micro Four Thirds

This is just a general note on the m43 equipment I use and a few thoughts on how that could change.

The more I use the Panasonic GX7 the more I like it. I can see why some people would find it too small but it fits my hands perfectly, which tells you something about the size of my hands. The Panasonic 7-14 f4 ( while having some problems with flare) has really surprised me by ...

Loire Valley, France - Day 2

The heat is oppressive today. We feel like taking a shower every 15 minutes. Despite this we battled our way to the largest chateau in France, Chambord.

As you can see from the map above,Chambord isn't far at all from Blois where we were staying for some 10 days. The map shows where a couple of hundred chateaus are situated in the Loire Valley. That's why we chose Blois as ...

Loire Valley, France - Day 1

Ten hours it took to drive from Frankfurt, Germany to Blois, France. Blois is the regional capital with some 50,000 inhabitants. After finding the flat we had rented for the next 10 days, out we went to see what delights the town could offer.

For those who are curious to know where Blois is, it's right in the middle on the Loire Valley where most of the chateaus of this famous valley lie. From Blois, ...

Exceptional Lenses I Own

An earlier post I did was about "Lens GAS" and all the excellent lenses I would dearly love to own but can't justify. Well, lets see what excellent lenses I do own and can highly recommend.

Since I own quite a few excellent lenses, I'll mention only those I think are outstanding and can recommend all photographers take a look at them (if you own that system of course). If you don't own the system, maybe ...

Lens Envy For The Mirrorless Systems

I'm sure you've all heard the term GAS before. It's very common in photographers who think that the next piece of new kit is going to improve their photography. Of course it doesn't but there's no point preaching to them, because they just want new toys to play with. I'm not sure if Gear Acquisition Syndrome is only symptomatic to photographers, but I'm assuming it isn't.

Panasonic GX85 and TZ101 Visits Wuerzburg

What better time to test a couple of new cameras than a family weekend in a new city. We do this once a year at around the end of May when everybody seems to have the time before summer starts. We select a different city every year and this year it was Wuerzburg. It’s situated in Bavaria, Germany and all of us can be there within a couple of hours by car.

Less is More

There's a saying "Less is more". And I perceive that as being true in all walks of life but especially where photography is concerned.

One of my problems when going on a trip is deciding which system to take, Fuji, Sony or m43. I'm lucky being able to afford three system simultaneously but on the other hand it does cause some difficulty when going on trips. The question about which system with which lenses to ...

Panasonic TZ101 - Initial Impression

Known in Germany as the TZ101 and as Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100/TZ100 elsewhere (which I haven't a clue as to why) was purchased as my pocketable go anywhere daylight camera. The reason for the daylight is because of it's f5.9 aperture at the long end. As many of you know I like to shoot long and I wanted something small with a longish lens. It didn't have be fast at the long end, that would make ...

Fujifilm X-T20

Having being enchanted by the Fujifilm X-T1 and X-T10, I was really looking forward to purchasing the X-T2 when it came out. Come to think of it I was also looking forward to the Olympus E-M1 II. However, as I realized what the manufacturers were charging for these engineering marvels I sat down and thought it all through again.

The X-T2 is retailing presently in Germany at €1700 and the Olympus E-M1 II is at a ...

Panasonic GX85 - Initial Impression (Is it a Reborn GX7?)

This is supposed to be the little brother of the GX8. I see the GX85 as the big brother of the GX7, a halfway house if you like. If you look at the images below, you can hardly tell the cameras apart, and I have to hold it and look at it to tell the difference. OK, my G85 is brown which makes it easier to tell which is which, but at the bricks and ...

Brought onto the market by Panasonic in 2007, this lens was my permanent buddy on one of my 4/3 Panasonic L1 bodies. It always went with me on my holidays and it has seen a lot of action over the years.

My Favourite Kit Lenses

Every manufacturer bring their cameras to market with a standard (normally sub-par) kit lens. Normally I discard these as “not-up-to-my-standard” and they end up in a corner somewhere. The only reason I get some of these lenses is when I can’t find a body only offer but sometimes these lenses surprise me with their image quality. Some of them are not to be discarded as I stated above, “sub-par”.

Panasonic G81 and the 12-60 f3.5-5.6 Power O.I.S. Kit Lens

The Panasonic 12-60 f3.5-5.6 is the kit lens that accompanies the new G81 camera. It was either get the camera only or get the kit with the lens for a pittance more. I selected the second option. I’m certain I can sell it on a popular auction portal for a higher price than what I paid for it if need be.

It has Power O.I.S. built in so theoretically using this in conjunction with the ...

Panasonic 14-42 f3.5-5.6 PZ Power O.I.S.

Having just tested the Olympus 14-42 f3.5-5.6 EZ I was expecting the same sort of performance from this lens. Lets just look at these two for a minute; both are 14-42mm, both are f3.5-5.6 and both have a power zoom (or electronic zoom). Lets see the specs for the lens:

Two Panasonic GM5 Cameras Do London

This post has taken a really long time appear here; I never seemed to get around to it, or something else took priority. Anyway, better late than never. Before I begin I would just like to mention that throughout 2016 my Panasonic GM5 cameras have seen a tremendous amount of use. I was quite surprised when I realised that all major holidays/breaks/visits this year were done with the Panasonic GM5 cameras. I think this shows ...

Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm F1.7 ASPH

What a beautiful little lens. Comes with a hood and a rubber cap to cover the front element that doesn’t come off when you take it out of your bag. This lens just smells of Leica.

It’s got Leica in the name and although it’s not built by Leica the quality is visibly superior to your normal Panasonic built lenses. They are built to Leica specifications which was a real coup for Panasonic. Quality is much ...

Sailing On The Italian West Coast With A Couple Of Panasonic GM5s

You may have noticed a lack of posts in September, that’s because of a lack of time in the first half and a sailing holiday in the second. Yes, a sailing holiday. In all we were five guests on the boat and two crew members. Two crew were necessary because the five us hadn’t a clue about sailing, but that didn’t deter us from enjoying the trip. The boat was a 54 footer with 3 ...

Cornwall - The South West of England

I’ve always wanted to go down to Cornwall, but never quite managed it. Don’t ask me why I want to go there but I suppose it’s to do with it’s history and the rugged coastline I’ve been hearing a lot about. The small harbours nestling among the ragged cliffs. Sounds great doesn’t it?

Well, a few weeks ago I had a chance to do just that and my wife and myself stayed in Cornwall for a ...

UPDATED: Panasonic GM5.

UPDATE: 05.04.2016

I thought I would update this piece with a couple of images from this camera that has been printed on Alubond at 60cm x 45cms and both are hanging on my wall as I write this. My wife wasn't impressed by my choice and she stated clearly she wouldn't have picked either for printing. That's when sh was seeing the two on the screen. Yes, they didn't look at all impressive when viewed ...

Short Post about my Panasonic GM5 Love Affair.

I believe I've mentioned that the Panasonic GM5 really got my attention after I took it with me to the south of France last year (as an afterthought). The camera and the lenses made for it are so small and light you really don't realise that you're carrying them around with you.

I normally use the two lenses made for it; the 12-32 f3.5-5.6 OIS and the 35-100 f4.0-5.6 OIS. These two lenses were especially ...

Micro Four-Thirds Musings

A lot of users swear by full frame cameras reasoning that depth of field can be mastered best with this format. True, DOF can be better achieved with this format but it all depends what you shoot. Landscape photographers try to get MORE DOF rather than less. So that argument doesn't hold up all of the time. It also doesn't mean that it's impossible to achieve a shallow DOF with other formats. I personally use ...

Adapters - Follow-up Post

My last post was regarding adapters for using Canon EF lenses on Sony E-mount and M43 systems. Having tested a few lenses I felt I could post again with some more information with a few images to show the results of using those lenses on the Sony E-mount.

Firstly, the Commlite adapter. I've only tested the Canon 40 f2.8 STM lens on a Sony E-mount camera as of this post so I'll probably test ...

Adapters for EF to E and m4/3 Mount Cameras

Adapters for EF to E and m4/3 Mount Cameras

(Plus some more ramblings)

The reason for my purchase of the Sony Alpha Axx cameras when they first came out was to have an FF sensor (a very good sensor) in a small and light package. Since my first purchase I must admit that GAS got the better of me and now I have a few of these little marvels. Each has it's own use ...

Zeiss Tessar 85mm f4 ZM

Zeiss T* 85 F4 Tessar ZM

Sometimes, just sometimes you purchase a new piece of equipment and you just fall in love with it. This is the experience I had after purchasing the Zeiss Tessar 85 f4 lens. It's just a wonderful piece of engineering. It's actually quite compact at 95mm with a diameter of 54mm but I class it as being quite hefty weighing in at 310g. As a matter of fact I wanted ...